Out of the Wilderness Into the Promise, Part 1

There is a time that the wilderness trip in your life comes to an end. In the first chapter of Joshua, God raises him up and gives him simple instructions that will assure victory in Canaan. The wilderness is not a dwelling place, but Canaan is. The promised land represents YOUR potential in God. The instructions of God to Joshua are beneficial as instructions to those of us who are determined to actually have and not just hope for all that God has for us in this life.

[Jos 1:1-18 KJV] 1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, 2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, [even] to the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. 5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, [so] I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. 7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it [to] the right hand or [to] the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. 9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God [is] with thee whithersoever thou goest.

10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it. 12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, 13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them; 15 Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as [he hath given] you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD’S servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising. 16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. 17 According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. 18 Whosoever [he be] that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.

The book of Joshua is the sixth book of the bible in both the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Consisting of 24 chapters, it tells the story of the conquest of Canaan and the leadership of Joshua, Moses’ successor. The authorship of Joshua himself is rejected by scholars who claim that the book wasn’t written until 500 years before Jesus at the time of the return from Babylonian captivity, possibly by Ezra, while others suggest it was written as a history by king Solomon. Does it matter who wrote the book of Joshua or any other book for that matter? In fact, if you believe in the inspiration of the bible, in the end, the only important fact is that it is God-breathed.

The book opens up in the aftermath of Moses’ death and the voice of God instructing Joshua. The emphasis is that of coming out of the wilderness into the Promised land. Joshua came out of the wilderness with God’s voice ringing in his ears. We likewise will come out of our captivity when our ears are bent low to hear His voice. In His instructions, God tells Joshua that every place Joshua puts his foot, he may claim as his own. We can be glad that God didn’t tell the Israelites in the desert of Sinai, “every place you put your foot, I have given it to you …” The wilderness was a place not to settle in but to pass through. The wilderness and the promised land both speak to us of our own walk with God and His plan for our lives. The wilderness is that process by which we put distance between ourselves and the captivity of the world (or Egypt). The Promised land is coming into our destiny. The wilderness speaks of our problem; the Promised land speaks of our potential. The wilderness is not a permanent dwelling place. God never intends for our life in Christ to be spent reeling from one crisis to the next. The wilderness is not an end in itself. We are to keep our eyes on the potential represented by the Promised Land.

The Promised Land doesn’t represent heaven. There are no giants or walled cities in heaven. There are no battles to fight in heaven. Despite what many popular songs suggest, Canaan land speaks to us of our potential and fulfilling our purpose in God. The wilderness is behind us. The Promise of God is that He has given us every square foot of the land, but we have to take it. It is ours by God’s declaration, but we must go forward to possess it by conquest. This isn’t taught in most Christian circles. We are taught that the wilderness is a ceaseless struggle that won’t end until we get to heaven, but the Promised Land is seen as a place where all the promises of God are effortlessly dropped into our laps without engagement on our part of any kind.

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